Cardiac monitors

I went to the doctors on Tuesday (28th April) to get tests booked and a mini-checkup. Everything is going to be booked (good), but the doctor said my heart murmur didn't sound like the usual kind, where a valve is either too hard or soft (allowing blood to flow backwards). Plus side, not a valve. Negative side, she wasn't sure. On a positive note, the doctor believes my arm issues and tingling are as a result of pinching a nerve while exercising. I can live with that, it'll heal soon.

I commend your desire to lose weight and be healthier, however this is not the way to do it. You need to do this slowly and look after yourself.

That's fair enough. I have to take in around 1,200 calories a day to stabilise my weight-loss and absolutely zero exercise. I can walk around and such, but no jogging or running.

The picture at the top of this post shows the latest in investigations into my heart murmur, dizziness and general pain. It's a portable cardiac monitor, to use for a week while I'm waiting on an MRI and Echocardiogram appointments to be booked.

You place it against your chest, roughly 5cm below your left nipple, hold your finger against one set of contacts and press "Start". It takes a reading of your heartbeat and beats per minute. The end result for me is "stable waveform" and the beats per minute. I can only assume that's a good thing.

What this doesn't help with, is that I get dizziness or pain for about 3-4 seconds, at which point I've had to pick up the monitor, place it against my chest and press start. It's already over. I'll still keep using it, but looking forward to the proper tests so I have some answers.